Title: Performance disclosure in the real estate industry: a case research of analyst reports and corporate financial presentations in Italy

Authors: Francesco Avallone; Alberto Quagli

Addresses: Department of Economics (DIEC), University of Genoa, Via Vivaldi 5, 16126 Genova, Italy ' Department of Economics (DIEC), University of Genoa, Via Vivaldi 5, 16126 Genova, Italy

Abstract: This paper aims to compare the analysts' reports on Italian publicly listed real estate companies with the information disclosed by the same companies in their presentations of business plans. Considering that the European real estate companies have a strong representative professional association that formulates best practices in reporting and accounting, we design a multiple case qualitative research to investigate if the reporting practices supported by the association enable to have benefits in disclosure transparency in the areas of most relevance to investors, even in a context usually not affected by information asymmetry issues. This study provides evidence that a significant coherence between information released by managers and data used by analysts exists, especially in the description of both the key drivers of profitability and financial structure. However, the analysis specifically reveals a partial discrepancy between companies and analysts in the use of information, due to substantially different purposes of documents.

Keywords: real estate; financial analysts; corporate disclosure; analyst reports; financial presentations; performance disclosure; Italy; business plans; disclosure transparency.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGSB.2014.067500

International Journal of Globalisation and Small Business, 2014 Vol.6 No.3/4, pp.208 - 228

Received: 01 Apr 2014
Accepted: 06 Nov 2014
Published online: 27 Feb 2015 *

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